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The D-day has arrived. Chennai Super Kings (CSK) and Kolkata Knight Riders (KKR) are likely to be unchanged for the Indian Premier League final at the Dubai International Stadium. Even if Andre Russell gets fit for KKR, the team may prefer to retain their winning combination.
Chennai Super Kings
Batting: Ruturaj Gaikwad has been their star batsman this season and the 24-year-old has stood up for the team in crunch situations. They will hope he fires again at the top. The CSK line-up is filled with experienced campaigners like Faf du Plessis, Moeen Ali, Ambati Rayudu, Robin Uthappa and MS Dhoni, followed by Ravindra Jadeja, Dwayne Bravo and two bowlers Shardul Thakur and Deepak Chahar, who are handy with the bat. Dhoni promoted Thakur in the last game against Delhi Capitals, and it will be interesting to see if Dhoni makes any such move in the final.
Bowling: Josh Hazlewood, Chahar, Thakur and Bravo will form CSK’s pace attack while the team has Jadeja and Ali to bowl spin. They have largely been an effective outfit this season.
Kolkata Knight Riders
Batting: Rahul Tripathi sealed the deal for KKR with a six against DC and left a clear message to the world. But KKR’s find of this season has been opener Venkatesh Iyer. Eoin Morgan’s team has a balanced batting order and they haven’t made many changes for the past few games. The only concern has been the skipper’s form, as he has yet to get a reasonable innings this season. But Morgan makes up with his tactical and motivational skills and big-game experience.
Shubman Gill, Iyer, Tripathi, Nitish Rana, Dinesh Karthik and Morgan have been constant features in the KKR batting line-up while all-rounders Shakib Al Hasan and Sunil Narine have made vital contributions whenever required.
Bowling: The team is likely to continue playing five specialist bowlers. Even if they get Russell fit, KKR won’t be changing their winning combination. The team will once again rely on the spin trio of Narine, Varun Chakravarthy and Hasan while the pace attack will be taken care of by Lockie Ferguson and Shivam Mavi.
Teams (likely):
Chennai Super Kings: 1 Ruturaj Gaikwad, 2 Faf du Plessis, 3 Moeen Ali, 4 Ambati Rayudu, 5 Robin Uthappa, 6 MS Dhoni (capt & wk), 7 Ravindra Jadeja, 8 Dwayne Bravo, 9 Shardul Thakur, 10 Deepak Chahar, 11 Josh Hazlewood
Kolkata Knight Riders: 1 Shubman Gill, 2 Venkatesh Iyer, 3 Rahul Tripathi, 4 Nitish Rana, 5 Dinesh Karthik (wk), 6 Eoin Morgan (capt), 7 Shakib Al Hasan, 8 Sunil Narine, 9 Lockie Ferguson, 10 Varun Chakravarthy, 11 Shivam Mavi
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